In an official statement, Governor Rick Scott declared that three pregnant women in Florida have been diagnosed with the Zika virus after traveling to Latin America. To prevent the spread of the virus, the state has requested 250 additional Zika antibody tests from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). These tests determine if a person, specifically a pregnant woman or new mother, had the virus, even if they are currently not ill.

Transmitted primarily through mosquito bites and occasionally through sexual contact, Zika has been linked by health officials to microcephaly, a condition in which a newborn baby has an abnormally small head. This condition can also lead to mental retardation. Zika has thus been identified as especially dangerous for pregnant women and their unborn children. According to the CDC, symptoms include fever, rash, joint pain and conjunctivitis, persisting for 7 to 10 days.

This is a disgrace. Where is the UK foreign office in all of this? Aras Amiri now joins another British-Iranian, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, in notorious Evin prison on bogus charges. @foreignofficehttps://t.co/DJX0knhdot